I've only been biased against one publication (not speculative fiction) and that was because the editor was unprofessional. Keep in mind that I have the utmost respect for editors, know they work their butts off, and have to be treated pretty badly before I feel insulted.

Post rejection depends on the story. If, upon reflection, the story was poorly done I will either rewrite or give up. That's pretty rare though. In most cases I continue to relentlessly submit the story until I hit the right slush pile

If it's a market I'm really interested in selling to, then I'll pummel them with stories until they submit. I've never let rejection make me stop . What will stop me is snarky or even rude responses from markets (with the exception of Nick Mamatas when he was with Clarkesworld. I relished getting snarky "boy you really fucked up a perfectly good story idea" comments from him.).

Rejection is part of the business and writers have to take it in stride if they're to make it. It can be frustrating when a particular market continually sends you rejections but I've learned to shrug it off. Shock Totem is brand new too, so writers can't expect to hit the right buttons the first, the second, or even twentieth time when they haven't seen what the magazine publishes yet. Maybe newer writers who are just starting out would be more inclined to the "Fuck you guys" routine, but only because they haven't learned yet that persistence is necessary and success usually doesn't come quick and easy. There's one market I've sent to 20 different times with no acceptance, and I'll continue to send there because you never know. The market that gave me my first professional sale rejected six other stories before buying my seventh, and that's my second highest subbed-to market.

This topic was spawned from me noticing that one person has now submitted his/her fourth story and their e-mail basically said, "Here. Thanks." Haha. I went back and noticed the previous three e-mails got shorter and shorter. I joked that the next one would say "Story. Assholes." Haha.

I don't necessarily find it tough sending rejections because it is part of the business, but sending multiple rejections to the same person kind of pulls at the heartstrings a bit, you know. And now some of those writers are posting here! Haha. I try personal rejections as much as possible, but when I have 87 to send out, that's just impossible.

Anyway, I hope no one takes offense. Writers will know us better when issue one comes out, but I fear that might add to the confusion. Haha. We've accepted six tales so far (two have yet to be notified) and each story is vastly different from the others. I personally think that's awesome, but I'm not sure we'll ever be able to suggest (with a straight face) people buy our publication to get an idea what we publish. Haha.

No, you never stop if you know what you're doing because it's not personal. That mag Bizzy posted in BBS-horror, they replied to everyone personally because it was part of their stated mission to help newbies, and not the established, I posted in there to it.

Also, this market is much more limited than others, horror writers couldn't afford to paint themselves in a corner that way, as it appears to me, there aren't many listings at all in Writer's Market, as I said at BBS and, although, yeah, they're all over the net, they're mostly non or very low paying markets, don't reach pro-horror/sci-fi/fantasy rates.

I posted a link in there that shows 100 of the supposedly most popular at the moment, just one source, you can find others, but you might like checking that out, cuz you can see what features everyone else is coming up with (easily and it was Just updated) and I remembered you were asking opinions on that in the BBS-horror not long ago.

Here's a different link, trying to help writers with only listings that pay, and they're mostly all, if not definitely ALL blends, as I said at the BBS, they're blended mags of horror with sci-fi and fantasy mixed, not straight horror. And right in the beginning of this link, it admits most of them don't pay up to industry standards, they're almost all very low-paying.

Anyway, this's yet more good news in the end to you guys because you have very little competition in the straight horror mag genre--niice! I'm thinking the fact you're metal heads will carry special appeal, making it different, too.

Well, we're not straight horror, though. I don't even know what "straight horror" would be anyway. Who was it that said horror isn't a genre but an emotion? Nick posted that quote before and I think I completely agree.

These links would serve better elsewhere. I'll have to edit one of the forums for things like this.

Lots of newbies take rejections personally--as if it's them being rejected, not the story.

When writers get the right mindset, it stops being a problem, and they'll sub routinely.

It helps to get explanations--if just on a standard form--of why a story was rejected. With that sort of info, it's easier to tailor the next story you send to that zine and save the editor time reading stuff there's no way they'll accept. Some writers might find that a little impersonal, but, again, that's a mindset thing, and you can counter any impersonal feelings with a few paragraphs on the guidelines page, explaining why you reject with a simple form rather than a with a handwritten greetings card your grandmother specially made for them.

My first few rejections hurt because I was still all quivery and skittish about submitting. Then my best writer friends and I started printing out our rejections and, I kid you not, folding them into origami animals. It definitely takes the sting out of them.

It doesn't prejudice me against a market unless they go out of their way to slash me when they reply, which has only happened once. My goal is to have 40 pieces out at one time, (I am a girl who can't resist challenges!) and that means that I'm getting rejections every day. Some are harder to accept than others, but it's just part of the game, yeah?

Ha! Believe me, the only way that I have that many pieces out is because I refuse to let my friend Dawn pwn me when it comes to submissions. You might recognize her. I wrote a story where her friend beat a guy down with a shovel.

We have competitions. Who writes the fastest, who sends the most out, who has the most acceptances, who has the most oragami animals. I'd suggest everybody get a writing ally/enemy. It lights a fire. We write and send each other at least one short story a month. You guys should all join us.

Kenwood wrote:Well, we're not straight horror, though. I don't even know what "straight horror" would be anyway. Who was it that said horror isn't a genre but an emotion? Nick posted that quote before and I think I completely agree.

That was Doug Winters, in the introduction to Prime Evil (which is an oustanding anthology, BTW).

"Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fictionor the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confinedto the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horroris an emotion."

I like that because it includes all sorts of things. Yes horror is often supernatural, or gory, or shocking, or whatever, but it doesn't have to be any of those things. Basically, it is horror if it peoduces that emotion in the reader. Many, many writers not necessarily known for being horror writers have dabbled in the genre.

Did I say "real life friend"? I did not say "real life friend". None of my flesh and blood friends really write, either, although they are sweet and offer to read my stuff. I met my friend in a writing chat room. I actually have a core group of writing friends that I met from there. I suggest you drop in sometime, because these guys are really motivating. Well, some are. The rest are your typical chatters.

Personally, rejections don't really bother me anymore. Sure, I don't like them, but to me they represent progress. You guys have sent me two rejections so far, and I have another story out to you already. If you reject it, I have more waiting. I will only stop if you ask.

I'm a novice writer myself...recently got my first rejection. Diden't hurt my feelings much (mind you, after the incessant spirit crushing Tall T, Snowy and I endure at the hands of Ken...it'd take a lot)

I'll say this - you certinaly don't waste any time turning stuff down! My only gripe would be that I'd like to know more about why you reject a story. I understand that the volume of submissions makes that difficult if not impossible.

BobEccles wrote:I'll say this - you certinaly don't waste any time turning stuff down! My only gripe would be that I'd like to know more about why you reject a story. I understand that the volume of submissions makes that difficult if not impossible.

I'll keep trying...

I completely understand that, and we were doing that initially, but it was taking hours to do one batch of rejections. I simply don't have that kind of time. Moreover, people began to argue with me about what we felt was wrong with the story. A lot of times, I hadn't even read the story so it was like unnecessary abuse.

Then there's my opinion that what we think might be wrong with a story is meaningless. The whole concept of fiction is just too subjective. What we dislike might be loved by another publication. And since we receive numerous submissions a day, we generally don't give many comments on a story. It's just a simple yay or nay.

We love supporting authors, but it really comes down to time. We can be quick with our responses but not give any feedback, and then have necessary time to work on making the publication a great thing, or we can personally respond to each submission but take six months to a year to do it, and drastically reduce our ability to focus on producing a quality product. Seems like a no-brainer to me.